Walk in a nutshell The atmospheric little cottage where English writer Thomas Hardy was born and spent his early years is the start of this walk. From there you take magical woodland paths through Puddletown Forest, where heather, gorse and ferns grow in glorious profusion. The forest's quiet beauty is punctuated by far-reaching views over the Dorset countryside when you come to clearings. You then return to Bockhampton through pathways flanked by silver birches and rhododendron bushes.

Why it's special Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), novelist and poet, was born in the small cob and thatch cottage at the start of this walk. The cottage was built by Hardy's grandfather and has been little altered since the family left. Hardy lived there until he was 34 and his early novels Under the Greenwood Tree and Far from the Madding Crowd were written there. Behind it stretches a heath, possibly the inspiration for Egdon Heath, of which Hardy wrote in The Return of the Native. The bulk of Hardy's work, set mainly in the semi-fictional land of Wessex, sees characters struggle against their passions and circumstances. The term "cliffhanger" is considered to have originated with his serial novel, A Pair of Blue Eyes, also written at the cottage, in which he literally left the protagonist hanging from a cliff.

Keep your eyes peeled for Dragonflies flying over the pond after you cross the Roman road, as well as dormice and badgers.

But bear in mind Some of the earlier part of the walk through Thornecombe Wood are hilly and the paths can be a bit muddy.

If it's tipping down The Terracotta Warriors Museum on High East Street in Dorchester has replicas of the ancient Chinese lifesize model army unearthed in Xi'an.terracottawarriors.co.uk

How to get there

By car Take the A35 from Bournemouth. After passing Puddletown, turn off on to Cuckoo Lane for Higher Bockhampton and follow signs for Hardy's Cottage.

By public transport Dorchester has two train stations. Trains from Waterloo arrive at the south station and ones from Wales and Bristol come into the west station. A-Line Taxis (01305 264747) will take you to Hardy's Cottage for around £12.

Step by step

1. From the car park, walk back up the tree-lined drive.

2. Turn right on to a bridleway signed to the Thomas Hardy Cottage and walk on a gradual uphill gradient to pass the cottage.

3. Carry on past a monument to the memory of Thomas Hardy, erected by some of his American admirers in 1931. Continue uphill on a track in Puddletown Forest.

4. Arrive at a crossroads and continue straight, gradually sweeping round to the right.

5. Cross another track, and go down into Puddletown Hollow on a lengthy, winding path to reach a crossroads.

6. Go on along a country lane passing Coombe Barn on the right.

7. Turn right on a bridleway, leaving the track almost immediately to follow a line of telegraph poles through a field, now passing Coombe Barn on the left. Enter woodland and follow a path to pass a dilapidated building and a fine house further on amid the trees.

8. Come out into the open and cross a track to continue over a field, the path clearly defined. Take a gate to walk downhill on the perimeter of the wood and carry on over a stile, walking with the wood on the right on a slightly diverted path that rises quite steeply.

9. Look for an opening on the right where the path continues alongside a hedge for a short distance.

10. Come out into a clearing and turn left to pass a lone house, then walk on to a wide track. Reach a minor road and turn right, passing several cottages.

11. Turn right over a stile on a footpath opposite Lower Norris Mill and walk over a meadow towards woodland. Climb a stile on to a woodland path to reach cross-paths.

12. Turn left over another stile on a path flanked by rhododendron bushes, then along an avenue of silver birches. Bear left from a marker to continue, the path rising and dipping and eventually coming out into the open to run parallel with a fenceline. The path rises steeply at times and crosses a Roman road.

13. Go on along a path signed to Hardy's Cottage, turning left to continue downhill on a permitted path back into the car park and the start point of walk.